1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-46052 (FIGS. 8 to 10), a three-terminal multilayer ceramic capacitor which includes a center outer electrode provided on a center portion on a surface of the multilayer ceramic element and side outer electrodes provided on opposite end portions on the surface of the multilayer ceramic element so as to interpose the center outer electrode therebetween is known. The term “three-terminal” means that three terminals as terminals of the capacitor are electrically connected to an installation board.
The three-terminal multilayer ceramic capacitor has a structure in which the inner electrodes are arranged so as to be orthogonal to an installation surface of the multilayer ceramic capacitor and a lamination direction thereof is parallel with the installation surface.
However, the multilayer ceramic capacitor with such a structure has a disadvantage in that cracking easily occurs at or near an outermost layer of the multilayer ceramic element. In addition, the multilayer ceramic capacitor with such a structure is required to have satisfactory installation properties with respect to the installation board.